Libya

Word Non-Association at AP: 'Hillary' and 'Crime'
By Tom Blumer | August 15, 2015 | 10:49 AM EDT

All you need to know about the Associated Press's interest in accurately reporting current developments in the investigations into 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's private email server is this: A search at its national site on "Hillary crime" (not in quotes) returns nothing.

Ken Thomas's coverage of the former Secretary of State's "forceful defense" last night in "a speech before influential Iowa Democrats" is all too typical: Mrs. Clinton gets to say that all of this is "partisan games" involving "playing politics." All I see is substance-free whining. "My opponents don't like me" is not a defense. Several paragraphs from Ken's calamity follow the jump:

On CNN, Giuliani: 'I'd Have' Hillary Clinton 'Under Investigation for About Five Different Crimes'
By Brad Wilmouth | July 29, 2015 | 1:25 PM EDT

Appearing as a guest on Wednesday's New Day on CNN, during a discussion of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani asserted that he would "have her under investigation for about five different crimes right now," and that it is "outrageous that the Justice Department is not moving forward with this."

Calling it a "true criminal case against Hillary Clinton," he further argued that the destruction of the drive which contained 34,000 emails, some of which were government-related, constituted "obstruction of justice" and could be viewed by a court as an "inference of guilt."

CNN, Others Go Light on Hillary's 'Not Subpoenaed' Lie
By Tom Blumer | July 9, 2015 | 10:57 PM EDT

One would think that a presidential candidate falsely claiming that she never was subpoenaed would be bigger news story than people in the opposing party criticizing that candidate after the fact for her obviously false statement. As Tim Graham at NewsBusters noted late this afternoon, that's not the case. This post contains several more examples.

At CNN, the network's own Brianna Keilar, who conducted the interview during which Hillary Clinton denied ever receiving a congressional committee's subpoena for her work-related emails, "sharply criticized the Democratic presidential contender’s performance" for failing to answer several questions satisfactorily and for not even "engaging" when asked others. Despite Keilar's disappointment, beat reporters Jeff Zeleny and Tom LoBianco at CNN.com went light on Mrs. Clinton, and highlighted Republican critics.

Hillary Deleted Passages from and Edited Emails Delivered to State; Will Press Ignore?
By Tom Blumer | June 29, 2015 | 11:39 PM EDT

Yeah, yeah. This post is about Hillary Clinton. The left and the press (but I repeat myself) insist that nobody cares about her scandalous behavior, or her evasiveness, or her demonstrated serial dishonesty. And even though a large and growing percentage of Americans don't trust her, that doesn't matter either, because she'll still get most of their votes. That's because no one wants to ever-ever-ever-ever see a non-Democrat take the White House again. So yeah, I know, we should just shut up already.

Well, if you're on the left and reading this, do us a favor and spare us any condescension you might include in the comments. People who remain in touch with reality will recognize that what follows is pretty darned important. Perhaps by some miracle someone in the establishment press with a conscience will too.

Fox News Alone Covers Hillary's High-Level Private-Server Libya Emails
By Tom Blumer | June 18, 2015 | 3:24 PM EDT

2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, as seen in this March 10 Associated Press report, has claimed for several months that "No Classified Material (was) Sent via Her Personal Emails" from a home-based server she said "would remain private."

That claim, like so many other representations Mrs. Clinton has made, fell apart earlier this week, when, as Fox News reported, it was learned that Mrs. Clinton "used her personal email account to handle high level negotiations in 2011 for a no-fly zone to help topple Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi." Only Fox considers this a story. Apparently, the fact that icky Fox has reported it means that no one else in the establishment wants to. Video and the Fox story follow the jump.

Daily Beast’s Michael Tomasky: Benghazi Investigation Amounts to ‘Urinating on the Grave’ of Chris Stevens
By Tom Johnson | June 18, 2015 | 10:58 AM EDT

In a Wednesday column, Tomasky alleged that the “real job” of the House select committee looking into the September 2012 Benghazi attack is “to get [Hillary] Clinton” and declared that “this ‘investigation’ now constitutes openly and defiantly urinating on the grave of Amb. [Chris] Stevens.” Tomasky commented that Trey “Gowdy’s investigators have come up empty on the consular attack itself, but their assignment, undoubtedly never spoken but equally undoubtedly always understood, is to find something that will keep Clinton out of the White House.”

ABC, NBC Again Yawn at Clinton Ally Testifying Before Benghazi Committee; CBS Moves on
By Curtis Houck | June 17, 2015 | 12:53 AM EDT

After ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today ignored on Tuesday that longtime Hillary Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal was set to testify hours later before the House Select Committee on Benghazi, their evening news counterparts joined with the CBS Evening News to also duck this story. The omission of Blumenthal’s testimony by the CBS Evening News follows CBS This Morning’s scant 20 seconds of coverage on the issue. 

ABC and NBC Ignore Clinton ‘Confidant’ Testifying Before Benghazi Committee
By Jeffrey Meyer | June 16, 2015 | 9:23 AM EDT

On Tuesday, Sidney Blumenthal, longtime friend and confidant to Bill and Hillary Clinton, is scheduled to testify before the House committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attacks but ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today ignored it altogether. CBS This Morning devoted a mere 20 second news brief to the story during its Tuesday broadcast. 

ABC and NBC Yawn at New ISIS Gains in Libya; CBS Omits Mention of Hillary and Obama
By Curtis Houck | June 9, 2015 | 8:51 PM EDT

On Tuesday night, the news that the ISIS had seized the Libyan city of Sirte received zero coverage on the evening newscasts of ABC and NBC while CBS devoted an entire segment to ISIS’s new gains, but neglected to mention or lay blame for the instability at the feet of Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration. While NBC offered no coverage on ISIS all together, ABC had a full report about the ongoing war, but only to highlight the troves of military equipment, weapons, and vehicles that was given to the Iraqi army by the U.S. that have fallen into the hands of ISIS.

Lanny Davis Whines About 'Media Frenzy' Over Hillary Clinton, Who Should Be Left Alone, Like Astronauts' Spouses
By Tom Blumer | June 7, 2015 | 10:40 AM EDT

When they can't go directly after something a Republican or conservative candidate says, the establishment press attempts to make a big deal out of dumb things their aides utter or publish.

Leftist apparatchiks usually have no such worries. The latest example of an item which would be prominently in the news if a Republican or conservative had written something equally dense comes from Lanny Davis, longtime Clinton family apologist and career Democratic Party hack. In a column appearing at the Hill, Davis whined about the supposedly awful "media frenzy" which occurred two weeks ago at a Hillary Clinton event with supposedly "everyday Americans" in Hampton, New Hampshire. Davis compared the travails and indignities the poor, put-upon Mrs. Clinton suffered to ... well, readers will see who after the jump (bolds are mine):

Foreign Affairs Writers: Stop Saying 'ISIS Is on the Rise' and Giving Their Wins Significance
By Tom Blumer | June 4, 2015 | 12:26 AM EDT

Foreign Affairs is "a multiplatform media organization with a print magazine, a website, a mobile site, various apps and social media feeds, an event business, and more." It is published by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), an influential organization which has caught flak for decades, predominantly from the right, for undermining and misrepresenting U.S. interests.

One doesn't have to be a conspiracy theorist to recognize that CFR has significant influence on Washington politicians and the press. Thus, it's fair to say that contentions in a column in its flagship magazine by Bridget Moreng and Nathaniel Barr that recognizing the ISIS victory at Ramadi last month as significant is "dangerous," and that any kind of statement indicating that ISIS is on the rise feeds "directly into the group's narrative," are very disturbing (HT Patrick Poole at PJ Media):

Krauthammer to Megyn Kelly: President Obama Is 'Not Serious,' While ISIS Is 'Al Qaeda on Steroids'
By Tom Blumer | May 25, 2015 | 11:12 PM EDT

In a Thursday interview recorded for Megyn Kelly's Fox News show that evening, Charles Krauthammer provided stunning evidence rarely mentioned even on Fox — and almost never in the establishment press — relating to how unserious the administration's and the Pentagon's "strategy" has been in containing, let alone defeating, ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

Krauthammer began discussing the inadequacy of the American military effort at the 1:58 mark of the video which follows the jump, charging that President Obama is only "pretending to be doing something," and discussed the long-term consequences if the situation doesn't turn around.